6 February 2024 12:00 am Views - 202
By Lakmal Sooriyagoda
The Negombo District Court had issued Interim Orders for the appointment of a ‘Receiver’ to take over the management and administration of the premises known as the Negombo Fisheries Market, commonly referred to as “Lellama.”
Negombo District Judge Lalith Kannangara further ordered that the said ‘Receiver’ be handed over all related Accounts and Cash balances pertaining to the “Lellama” with immediate effect. The Court made this order pursuant to an action filed by the Archbishop of Colombo against Aruna Roshantha Fernando, J. Edison Fernando, and A.J. Nishantha Fernando, holding respectively the positions of President, Secretary, and Treasurer of the “Pitipana Meesame Eksath Dheewara Samithiya”.
The Archbishop of Colombo initiated a legal action before the District Court of Negombo, citing that the premises commonly referred to as the “Lellama” had been gifted to the “Pitipana Meesame Eksath Dheewara Samithiya” by a Deed of Gift in 1963 by the then Archbishop of Colombo, subject to certain conditions. It was alleged that the defendants purportedly violated these conditions by renting and leasing out the shops within the said premises to third parties without the prior approval of the Archbishop of Colombo. The Archbishop specifically averred that as the defendants were in serious breach of the conditions of the said Deed of Gift, and failed to utilize a portion of the revenue generated from the premises to the ‘Pitipana Church’ for the purposes and the welfare of the Pitipana Parish.
The Archbishop’s claim emphasized that as the defendants acted in serious breaches of the conditions of the Deed of Gift as aforesaid, the then Archbishop took steps to cancel the said Deed of Gift in 2007. However, the defendants and their representatives continued to unlawfully occupy the premises by arbitrarily altering the name of their Fisheries Society. Consequently, the Archbishop of Colombo petitioned the Court for a declaration of title over the premises known as “Lellama” in his favour and sought an order for the eviction of the defendants and their representatives from the premises, to obtain the delivery of possession of the said premises back to the Archbishop of Colombo.
Furthermore, the Archbishop of Colombo prayed for interim relief from the court, including the appointment of a ‘Receiver’ to take over the management and administration of the premises, with exclusive authority over associated accounts and cash assets of the ‘Lellama’. Following a comprehensive inquiry conducted before several previous District Court Judges with regard to the Application for Interim Relief, in which Rev. Fr. Ciswan de Croos, M. Vincent German, W.A. Steven, and W.J. Martin Fernando gave evidence on behalf of the Plaintiff, the Archbishop of Colombo. The 1st Defendant, W. Ganis Fernando, along with L.C. Roshan and A.A. Peter Silva gave evidence on behalf of the Defendants. Subsequently, upon the conclusion of the said extensive inquiry, the District Judge of Negombo issued the Interim Orders in favour of the Archbishop of Colombo.
Senior Counsel Varuna Senadhira with Counsel Rukshantha de Almeida instructed by Dammika Silva, Attorney-at-Law, appeared on behalf of the Archbishop of Colombo.